What's Missing in Education: The Entrepreneurial Edge?

Recommended is this smart-conversation video interview with Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Start-up: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses" and Mark Suster, a "2x entrepreneur who has gone to the Dark Side of VC."

Video runs over an hour but you can check out the topics that interest you most via the time-codes below if you are time-crunched. There are with numerous take-aways for educators, parents and students, such as the necessity of failure; Steve Jobs; what the next middle class will look like; getting out of our silos (one of my favorite topics); how software development is not just about creating another Facebook; and what's missing in education. The direct references to education are mainly in the beginning and the end of the video, such as the 1:05 mark where Ries advocates for a "new literacy" that should be considered standard for the next generation: computer programming (software development) and entrepreneurship.

Intrigued yet? Of course, this opens up another question, which is. . . . can entrepreneurship be taught?

Here's the video breakdown, via Suster, "If You Don't Have a Discrete Hypothesis, You Are Incapable of Failure":

00:00 Welcome, our guest is Eric Ries, founder of the Lean Startup Movement.00:45 Intro to Eric01:17 Background, before the Lean Startup01:53 Yale during the Dot Com Bubble3:35 The real entrepreneurs come out during a down economy4:15 Eric's startup history6:30 Why did it take so long to ship?8:17 How did you decide to go with either shrinkwrap or web only product?9:14 What was the root cause of the failure of your first company?11:00 Mark on over-hyping PR11:50 Startup problems!13:43 Why would you talk to journalist? Why waste energy?14:20 People go too fast to internationalize14:45 Eric: The vital function of a startup is to learn how to build a sustainable business15:40 Discussion of Awe.sm17:30 Can you make startups science?19:30 A teachable moment for entrepreneurs: HAVE A HYPOTHESIS! What do you do better, different, or what do you want to achieve?20:42 Looking for the "Up and to the Right" charts21:20 Starting points for business should be a problem22:10 Eric: Innovation Accounting22:53 Eric's book: The Lean Startup24:00 Big money vs. Little money25:40 The fundamental goal should be to eliminate waste26:44 Too much capital is not good26:54 Mark on the negatives of the "Fail Fast" movement27:45 Eric: The thing that is supposed to fail fast is your bad ideas, not your company31:10 Mozy Pro Ad34:00 Imvu35:29 Why people use social media. Will these norms change?36:30 Eric: Social media is great for people with social capital38:00 Should you use avatars?40:05 What happened after Imvu41:00 Transitioning from software to writing42:20 Did agile development influence you?43:20 The inception of Lean Startup44:45 Telling an entrepreneur to focus is like telling a fat person to lose weight46:18 iOS Vs. Android46:50 Engines of Growth48:30 Vanity metrics49:00 Startups are all naked in the mirror51:10 Astrology and causality in startups52:00 Actionable metrics53:35 Opposition to departmental silos54:20 Semi-autonomous teams57: 00 How do you rectify company mission and customer demand58:00 Apple is iterative1:01:01 Why Steve Jobs got fired1:01:45 Fenwick and West AD1:03:03 So what comes next?1:03:35 Eric: what is society going to do? Most people are working on failing ideas.1:05:35 Middle class job of the next generation: software development!1:06:05 The skills gap1:07:15 The "College Deal" and why it needs to change1:09:50 We need education!

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